From the Court30/09/12 / cata_tax-news

On 1 July 2012, the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic (SAC) issued Judgment Ref. No. Afs 103/2010-274, which assessed the special VAT regime for travel services.

In the cited case, the SAC exercised its right to submit a preliminary question to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and stated in its judgment the ECJ’s conclusions and made reference to the ECJ’s practice.

Based on the SAC’s judgment, in principle any taxpayer may become a travel services provider despite not being a travel agency. As such, they must apply a special regime when applying VAT. Such cases include situations where a taxpayer provides only one typical travel service (such as accommodation) and simultaneously provides a supplementary service that is typical for tourism (information services, reservations etc.).